Posts Tagged "media archaeology"

Jussi Parikka’s What is Media Archaeology? is a search into the different genres of media today, as well as digging into past forms of media before technology had advanced to the level at which it is in the new millennium. One fascinating subject which Jussi Parikka discusses in What is Media Archaeology? is the concept of Imaginary Media. As Parikka discusses in the chapter, Imaginary Media is many things and is represented in many ways. It is certainly related to Media Archaeology in regards to how it is a practice of “doing old media”. Imaginary Media takes a look at past forms of media and cultural uses of technology and “imagines the possibilities of other pasts and futures”. In other words, observing the ideas and uses for technology people came up with and looking at why ideas were kept and maximized upon, and why others were discarded. How would the narrative of media history be different if people pursued other media and technological endeavors? Parrikka explains that this study is unique because it is “outside linear media history.” What kind of alternate futures would be possible if different technology were pursued and made useful by past cultures? Likewise, Imaginary Media is also a study of the communication of society. It looks at the aspirations and dreams of a time period and society to push the boundaries of technology. For example, time machines, tele-porters, early versions of the cell phones and transmittance, anything that was imagined on Star Trek in the 1960s or in War of the Worlds at the turn of the 20th century or in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is Imaginary Media. The sacred and profound theory behind this is how the visionary, creative imagination of science fiction writers seem to inspire the coming true of this technology. In the Star Trek episodes of the 1960s, viewers saw William Shatner, speaking into his mobile device to send messages of intelligence back to the Enterprise. Thirty years later, cell phones were the mainstream. We should be able to get a look at more modern science fiction movies like The Matrix and see where society is headed in the realm of Imaginary Media. There is also a paranormal side related to the concept of Imaginary...

Here a Sony stereo manufactured April 1992 in Tokyo, Japan. This was “it” before iTunes. Culture was different in April of 1992. Before iTunes, the stereo was the means of playing music, whether it be listening to your local radio station, or putting in a cassette or CD of choice from your personal collection. When you bought a CD, you bought a tangible artifact. Going to the record and CD store was an anticipated social event. Dialogue with other customers, perhaps bartering and discussions on music were all part of the package of going to the CD store. It was founded upon whimsy. You never knew what surprises you’d find. The experience of sifting through each different CD, the way they clicked as you flipped each one back onto each other in search of the one true CD you had a budget for. “ALL IN or ALL OUT.” “All or NOTHING.” Maybe you could say that was the experience of the music consumer in 1992. If you couldn’t find a demo, (and who wants a CD with 2 songs on it) and if you wanted to add a band to your music library (a physical collection in those days, frequently adding to the ambience of a room), you would just have to buy the album. And from the point you purchased the album at checkout, you were already deeply committed to the cause. After the search and purchase, you would return home and want to listen to your newly bought CD. From the get-go you were highly engaged with your CD. The labors of getting the CD out of its coated plastic with your keys of scissors was the first step. Then peeling that tape around the edges off which kept the CD case shut tight. This usually took the longest, as, pieces of it would break off. But even through all that, you had already become very familiar with the album art, the front cover. And when you opened the CD case, there, another artistically rendered artifact of physical transmedia, the disk, the token containing the musical journey you would encounter through active listening. Of equal importance was the leaflet contained with the CD. It was a reflection of the music on the CD,...